


sainthood and sanctuary

by confinesofpersonalknowledge, Music_Magic_Mayhem



Series: the cinematic future [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Captivity, Fighting Ring, Gen, How Do I Tag, Human Experimentation, Human!Virgil, Humans are Scary, Implied Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mostly implied violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Space Australia, Space Pirates, a lot of indescript violence, alien!Roman, human!Janus, nightmares (implied)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25873591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confinesofpersonalknowledge/pseuds/confinesofpersonalknowledge, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Music_Magic_Mayhem/pseuds/Music_Magic_Mayhem
Summary: Virgil's been calling his little space-cell for a couple of months, ranging closer to a year, now, and he's pretty much lost all hope of ever being able to go back home or even seeing the people at home again. He doesn't even know if he wants to go home, to be honest. But he does know that he desperately wants to be somewhere other than his space-cell. It was space-miserable.Good thing he meets Roman, who's about the strangest alien Virgil's met so far..Roman just wants to go back home to his space ship where he's safe. He ends up locked in a cell occupied by one of the Universe's most terrifying and bloodthirsty creatures instead. Good thing he's already friends with one. What's one more, anyway?
Relationships: (also pretty in the background), (but that's super background in this), Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Series: the cinematic future [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877515
Comments: 14
Kudos: 113
Collections: Humans Are Space Orcs





	sainthood and sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> A big, _big_ thank you to my friend Avery for helping me brainstorm this and beta-reading it for me. You're the best!

Virgil wakes up to the sound of shouting and somewhat furious whispering among the guards posted outside his door. He opens his eyes slowly, carefully pushing himself up to peer outside, confused. Virgil had never really been good at understanding languages or picking up on them, but he’d started putting together a few phrases after a few months of being wherever-the-hell he is. Things like ‘food’ and ‘specimen’ (or at least, that’s what he assumed it was) or even the far more dreaded ‘fight’. He’d even managed to recognize what they called him - he thought it was something like ‘Deathworlder’. 

Virgil hates fighting. He was good at fighting, not to get him wrong, he was fast and agile and able to always see a few steps ahead of whatever opponent they put in front of him. But that didn’t mean he had to like fighting. No, Virgil hates fighting. It always leaves him shivering afterward, curling into the threadbare ends of the jacket he’d been wearing when he’d been first abducted. It was practically all he had of Earth anymore, the last thing he had of  _ him _ . Virgil hates that it stinks of blood now. 

Anyway, Virgil can’t really piece together what they’re saying right then. The guards are chattering in a way that indicates they’re excited, and Virgil can’t figure out what they’re really excited about before the cell door swings open with a loud creak that makes Virgil’s teeth set on edge. Virgil squints as light suddenly floods even more into the cell and he scrambles back into the shadows. He doesn’t want to be seen as much as possible - he knows it won’t really do anything if they want to test something on them or want him to fight, but it’ll be a few minutes where he’s not in front of aliens and having to deal with it all.

But the guards don’t come in, or at least, not this time. They peek in, looking around for Virgil before shivering when they can’t find him. Virgil figures they can’t really see well in the dark, which is fair because Virgil really can’t either, but it seems like they can’t even see Virgil unless he moves. After a few seconds of nervous squinting inside of the cell, there’s a sudden flurry of noise, and then this small fluffy little… thing… is shoved inside.

Virgil squints, startled. It kind of looks like a plant, like Groot from those old Marvel movies  _ he _ really liked showing Virgil. Virgil doesn’t understand why the guards or the people that he assumes own the prison really decided to give him a plant, and once the door closes, he stands up to nervously scoot closer. The light in the room fades little by little until it’s back to the sliver that comes from the 

Which, of course, is right when it decides to release a feral scream right at the top of it’s lungs, and sends Virgil careening back into a wall. His back hits the ball with a painful  _ thump _ and the thing stops screaming, instead stretching it’s limbs and turning its head (is that even a head??? How does alien anatomy work?? Hell if Virgil knows) towards Virgil. It makes a series of incoherent sounding screams (that still make Virgil’s ears ring but significantly less so than the initial one), before patting it’s chest and sounding out a word over and over again. “Roman- Roooomaaaan- Roman.” It repeats it a couple of times before Virgil puts together that it’s probably the creature’s name. 

The little plant creature (Roman? He? Virgil doesn’t know, he doesn’t like not knowing) starts walking towards him. 

This up close, Virgil can see the glassy white sheen over the alien’s eyes as he comes to stand right in front of Virgil. Roman proceeds to extend a semi-curled fist, upside down so his palm faces Virgil, and just… waits. Stares blankly towards him until Virgil, ever so slowly, copies the fist and taps it lightly against Roman’s. He has no idea what’s happening, but it seems like Roman does, at least. 

Virgil also has very little clue of what is going on right now, but hey, if  _ he _ had taught Virgil anything, it was the importance of having manners and being in as much control of a situation as possible. So he taps his fist lightly against Roman’s (??) and then sounds out his own name a couple of times.

The alien nods in satisfaction, patting Virgil’s curled fist and then sitting down in front of him, releasing another long chatter of terrifying sounding screams that Virgil has no hope of even beginning to comprehend. He doesn’t really know what to do with himself or the little alien creature that he’s been stuck with, so he just sits down. 

After a second, he snorts at himself. Look at him, sitting criss-cross applesauce in the middle of mcfricking space with a little plant alien that communicated purely through screams and incoherent noises. He could bet any money in the world that  _ he  _ would find this entire situation hilarious. Or terrifying. Virgil doesn’t know. It’s been a few years since he’s even seen  _ him _ . 

_ He _ disappeared when Virgil was all of twelve years old, anyway. Happy twelfth birthday, Virgil, you’re going to lose one of the only people that even gave a shit about you! Aren’t you excited?

Virgil ends up so lost in his musing that he doesn’t notice the curious little creature shift closer until he’s practically in Virgil’s lap, little tree-bark hands shoved right into Virgil’s personal space and touching his face.

Virgil jerks back hard enough to knock his head on the wall, though he doesn’t jostle Roman in his lap. He’s easily startled, and he’s also startled the alien in his lap, if the new ear-ringing scream he lets out is any indication. Virgil winces and covers his ears, shaking his head a few times to get rid of the ringing. 

The alien gives off a few more curious chirps before climbing up Virgil’s shirt and sitting in his hair like some kind of absurd tree-gremlin creature. Virgil has officially given up on understanding the little thing. He has no idea what it’s doing.

There’s a series of loud clangs outside the door, and Virgil looks up, careful of Roman in his hair. The sounds cut off but Virgil suddenly realizes that Roman has been trying to get closer to whatever light there is available in their miserable little cell. 

Virgil takes a deep breath and settles in. If he can adjust to being kidnapped and sold in space, and then forced to fight in arenas for amusement, not to mention everything else? He can handle a tree alien hanging out in his hair. Virgil huffs out a soft laugh when he realizes this isn’t even the weirdest thing that’s happened to him in the past few months.

What even has Virgil’s life become? He has absolutely no clue.

Virgil figures there’s absolutely no way the two of them are going to manage to break out of space-prison in the next few minutes, so he pulls the jacket closer around him and settles in to take a nap. He needed what little energy he could manage to build up. He figured the druids would want him next anyway.

* * *

Roman doesn’t really like the little prison he’s been shoved into. He’d heard the guards chattering in Common about the vicious Deathworlder inside, about all the fights he’d participated in, the gruesome ways he’d apparently torn apart alien species bigger than Roman. He’d fought the urge to roll his eyes then, because it really did feel like an overly-obvious tactic to get Roman to feel any kind of fear, and really, they should be ashamed of themselves. Janus could probably do a much better job of riling them up anyway.

But just because Roman was friendly with one  _ specific _ Deathworlder did not mean that every Deathworlder out there had to like Roman. Or even try to befriend him.

That was why Roman had released his scream right as the door closed. If the Deathworlder meant him harm, it would’ve knocked him right out. Instead, the Deathworlder had flinched back from Roman. Which, really, honestly. It wasn’t like Roman was going to be able to do anything to  _ it _ in the first place. The big shivering miserable lump was really overreacting. Roman was going to be fine. He  _ is  _ fine. Not even scared in the slightest.

Roman figures he’d befriend it, after that. The poor thing looks terrified. It kind of makes Roman feel bad, if he’s being honest. Roman doesn’t like being honest, but then Patton would give him that disappointed low-brow look and Roman would feel bad all over again. Okay, maybe Roman isn’t  _ as _ fine as he pretends to be. But it was  _ fine _ . He’d be out of here soon enough, anyway.

Roman really doesn’t know if his friends would believe him if they ever found him. How  _ does _ a species of Araucaria, known specifically for their ability to harvest emotions and their excellent ecolocationary screams, end up hanging out in a Deathworlder’s hair (mostly) fearlessly, anyway? It reads like something out of a poorly written fantasy novel. Roman definitely wouldn’t have believed it if he wasn’t the one in this exact situation.

Deathworlders were nice, but they weren’t touchy-feely. At least, Janus wasn’t.

Either way, Roman also knows that he wasn’t about to be stuck there for long. He’d been with Janus when they’d been ambushed at the local trading post, and Roman had seen the absolutely feral look on Janus’s face when the band of bounty hunters had subdued the alien. A year ago, that look would’ve been enough for almost all of Roman’s leaves to fall off in a fear display. Now, it just made Roman shake his head almost fondly. He hoped there was enough left of the ship that they could manage to navigate it back to the S.S. Mindpalace. Logan would be furious if they had to deviate from their course anymore than necessary.

Roman just has to  _ wait _ . And Roman can do that, at least. Roman’s never really liked waiting, and for an Araucaria, Roman was really terrible at staying still. Recon missions were the actual worst for someone like Roman. They make him want to scream until he finds whatever they were looking for. 

But  _ nooo _ , Logan and Janus both insist that it would subvert the whole point of a secret operation, and  _ not everything could be fixed by screaming at it, Roman _ .

Okay, so maybe Roman already misses being home and safe more than he has any right to be, considering he’s not even been away from home for more than a philantrosh. That doesn’t mean Roman didn’t miss it anyway. He likes the thought of having access to his lights whenever he needs them! And his bottles of positive pheromones that he cuddles Patton to retrieve. They were always the best at making Roman feel better after an exhausting day.

But who could blame him? He’s stuck in a tiny cell with barely enough light, the wrong kind of light, and a Deathworlder that could probably kill Roman if Roman annoyed it enough. What did it say it’s name was again? Veergel?

Roman huffs. He wants Janus to get here already. Or even an entire thirosh before. Anytime soon, please.

It was as if the universe was really answering Roman’s prayers. Which was honestly amazing, because it wasn’t like the Gods had ever really listened to Roman, but he was very glad they were choosing to listen to him now, because Roman would do just about anything to get out of here right now.

There were a few more thiroshes of loud clangs and half-aborted screams that the Deathworlder didn’t even seem to respond to, though Roman could tell by the sudden sharp increase of the fear-smell that the Deathworlder had woken up by the first one. Roman only crosses his upper two arms before using the lower set to pet the Deathworlder’s hair soothingly, hoping the alien liked having his hair played with in the same way Janus did.

It didn’t flinch away, nor did it throw Roman across the room. It did tense up and then shiver in a confusing way, though. Roman still counts it as a win.

“Don’t worry, little one. Janus will be here any second, and when he sees you, he’ll want to take you with us. We won’t leave you here alone anymore.” He tries to reassure. Roman huffs when the creature flinched at the screams. Oh honestly, they were really only quiet screams and Roman was trying his best to use as much of his quiet voice as he could feasibly manage in the current situation. Roman actually does know Common, but his ability to speak anything other than his own native language tends to slip away when Roman is surrounded by a lot of negative pheromones.

The clanging and screams get louder and progressively closer, and Roman ruffles his leaves in anticipation. He can smell Janus in the distance, so he lays down on the Deathworlder’s head and covers his ears before releasing another really loud scream. There! Now Janus knows where to find them! Easy peasy!

That, unfortunately, does not seem to translate well to the Deathworlder. In a second’s time, the Deatworlder has shoved the both of them into the darkest corner of the cell, whispering furiously to Roman in a language he really can’t be bothered to understand. Roman just sighs and drops his arms. Veergel would see soon enough anyway. It was just Janus! They were about to be saved! Roman didn’t understand why the human didn’t seem to recognize that.

A few moments pass in that strange eerie silence, the Deathworlder standing abnormally still in the way that always freaks Roman out. Then the cell door creaks open, and a shadow falls across it, and Roman perks up, waving excitedly. “Janus! Hi! I knew you’d come! And you got here so quickly! Wow!”

Veergel must really not be a smart fellow, because he doesn’t seem to recognize that Janus is very clearly not a threat, curling around Roman and… hissing? Hissing at the door. Startled, Janus hisses back, before he freezes completely in the doorway, the Khernatetuic blaster he was holding falling to his side.

When Janus responds, it’s in that strange human tongue that Veergel was chattering away at Roman in, his face slack and confused. And if Roman was right, slowly growing horrified and outraged. He wasn’t the best at understanding Deathworlder emotions. That was more of Patton’s forte. 

“...Virgil?

“Janus?”

**Author's Note:**

> okay so i'll try to have another chapter out soon! i hope you all liked it! if you want to scream about it, i have a tumble under the same handle (confinesofpersonalknowledge.tumblr.com) or you can hmu in the comments! let me know what you all think!! i'm eager to see your opinions!


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